Auction watch: Bidding heats up with another Gungahlin record

Sizzling heat wasn’t enough to dampen Saturday’s auction market with hammers falling across Canberra and another record cemented.

A contemporary five-bedroom house at 31 Ben Blakeney Street in Bonner marked the sixth suburb record to be broken in the ACT in the past three weeks.

Luton Properties Gungahlin agent Nick Paine said about five of the seven parties registered to bid had a crack at securing the property, which is located next to reserve and features a four-car garage.

It was snapped up by a family for $955,000, contributing to an ACT clearance rate of 75 per cent, according to Domain Group data.

He attributed the region’s recent strong sales to a lack of housing stock, with those homes hitting the market of a higher quality.

“We’re now starting to get million-dollar properties more regularly,” he said.

Two properties broke records in the Belconnen region last weekend, including 11 Ashkanasy Crescent in Evatt which sold for $1.12 million and 18 Ross Smith Crescent in Scullin at $790,000.

Another three records were smashed on November 5 in Aranda, Chifley and Gungahlin. The Gungahlin house at 21 Kettle Street sold for $1,255,000.

The Bonner record wasn’t the only strong sale in the Gungahlin region on Saturday with a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 2 Mount Warning Crescent in Palmerston selling for $648,000.

Almost 40 people, including 10 registered bidders, braved the heat to witness the sale, which began with a low opening bid of $400,000 before two tight tussles pushed the price upward.

Harcourts Brindabella agent Kostya Logvinov said the quality of the house, which is located in a quiet pocket of the suburb, drew interest from a range of people, with almost 70 groups inspecting the property before auction day.

“There were people looking to downsize from a bigger five-bedroom home, there were investors, there were first home buyers,” he said. “It almost ticked all the boxes.”

“I think people have realised you get bigger blocks of land, you get that location [in Palmerston]. The whole Gungahlin region is getting record prices. It says a lot.”

Across town, a four-bedroom house at 266 Duffy Street in Ainslie was snapped up for $1.2 million.

Wright Dunn Real Estate agent Peter Andrighetto said the property’s location backing Mount Ainslie Reserve was the big drawcard.

With auctions gradually winding down next month, Mr Logvinov said January would be the “next hot window” to sell.

“There’s a lot of people starting to see results and are really getting their homes ready for January,” he said.

More to come.